Dream by Night, Dream by Day
by vixen6
Summary: A different kind of Bebop story
1. Strange Bed Follows

disclaimer, disclaimer from the vixen-person. I do not own cowboy bebop, if i did i would probably be rich and able to afford a cable modem instead of this dial-up nonsense  
  
  
  
  
Strange Bed Fellows  
  
  
Spike was in a smokey pool hall the first time he saw her. She had a golden mane of hair, an adorable face and an unbelievebly sexy body that was accented by her tight leather outfit. He was taken aback by her beauty, and he even more taken aback when he saw his best friend Vicious creep up behind her and plant a kiss her on the cheek. When Vicious spotted Spike, he and the golden haired beauty walked over to him.  
  
"Spike, I'd like you to meet Julia."   
  
"Hello, Spike." Julia held out her delicate hand to him.  
  
"Hello." he said shaking her hand looking directly into her eyes, surprised at the firm but gentle grip she had.  
  
"Excuse me a moment, I've got some business to take care of." Vicious stalked over to someone who owed the Syndicate money.  
  
There was an awkward silence, and Spike found himself lost in Julia's eyes again.  
  
"Vicious has told me alot about you,"  
  
"What?" Spike was in a trance, and it caused Julia to smile. She had such a cute smile.  
  
"I said Vicious has told me alot about you, you seem to be the only partner he actually trusts."  
  
"Well I'm sure he feels the same way about you." he flashed her an easy smile and he could feel the charm starting to kick in. Then he remembered he was talking to his best friend's girl.  
  
"I don't know Spike, you should never really trust a woman you know.." she said this with a flirty expression on her face.  
  
That statement and look on her face made Spike like Julia even more. Usually when Vicious brought a girl around, she was all body, but there was something special about this one. Something beyond looks and something deeper then casual conversation.   
  
"Well we're going to get going, I just stopped by to tell you I'll be a little late for tommorow's meeting, so you can start it without me." Vicious snapped him out of his trance.  
  
"Ok, Vicious." Spike sparked up a ciggarette.  
  
"It was nice meeting you Spike," her soft blue eyes staring directly into his made him uneasy.  
  
"Likewise," Spike answered and went back to his game.  
  
"Likewise, did I just say likewise?" Spike thought to himself. "Who the hell says likewise?!" He felt like an idiot. He was always so smooth with women, but this woman made him uneasy for some reason. Maybe it was her eyes..she had such beautiful eyes..they were hypnotic.  
  
"Julia..what a pretty name.." he thought to himself.  
  
  
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He kept repeating that name in his head, and when he woke up the next day he said it out loud and reached over to the other side of his bed hoping that she'd be there, curled next to him. There was something curled next to him alright, but it wasn't a woman, it was some kind of creature. He put his hand on it and it growled, and right away he knew it was that damn dog Ein.   
  
Spike could never understand why the dog chose to sleep in his bed when it hated him the most. Maybe he just liked the morning sun. Spike could feel it shining on his face which was pretty weird because there wasn't sunlight in space, and he didn't remember docking on any planet last night. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around his room. It wasn't his room on the Bebop, it was his apartment above Jet's Towing and Auto Garage, and he was on Earth. A harsh reality started sinking in that made him want to put a pillow over his head and fall back to sleep again.  
  
He squinted over at his hot rod calender hanging on the back of his door and it read March 2002.  
  
"Dammit, it was all just another dream." he yawned and stretched in his bed, knocking the annoying dog to the floor with his arm. The pudgy welsch corgie yelped and ran downstairs. It brought a smile to Spike's face. "That's right tubby, go get some excercise."  
  
  
Spike hated waking up from his dreams, because they were always so vivid and entertaining. He also liked himself better when he slept because in most of his dreams, he was Spike Spiegel, bounty hunter from 70 years in the future. He wore a funky blue suit and flew a speeder named the Swordfish Two. He flew all around The Milky Way from planet to planet hunting down bounties for cash and causing all kinds of havoc along the way.   
  
In real life he was Simon "Spike" Spiegel, auto mechanic. He wore a dark blue uniform with the name" Spike" stiched onto a patch on his breast pocket in yellow lettering, and drove a tow truck. The only "bounties" he hunted were people whose cars had broken down, and the only havoc he caused was occassionaly scratching their cars by accident while hooking them up to the truck.  
  
He had been working with Jet Black ever since he graduated high school. He wasn't really the college type, and he always liked working on cars, so it was fitting that he ended up being a mechanic. It wasn't the most glamorous life, but it was an honest living. Spike's folks had a rule that at 21, you had to move out, so for the past 3 years he had been living with Jet in his spacy apartment above the garage. He tried living with friends before that, but it never worked out. Jet was an easy guy to get along with though, and although Spike hated to admit it, he was a pretty good cook.  
  
  
  
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Spike put on his uniform and walked sleepily into the small kitchen. Jerry "Jet" Black was already suited up for work and finishing up his breakfast. Ein had come back upstairs and was chowing down at his dog bowl, eating so ferociously he had pushed the bowl halfway across the room. Spike nearly tripped on it on the way to the fridge.  
  
"Damn Dog!" he felt like kicking it, but he didn't.  
  
"I made you some bacon and eggs kid, eat up." he never even looked away from his paper.  
  
"Thanks Jet, but I'm not too hungry this morning." his thoughts were still focused on his dream girl.   
He had taken a half empty carton of orange juice out of the fridge and gulped it down. Then he put the empty carton back in the refridgerator.  
  
Jet put the paper down and stared up at Spike.  
"You ok, Spike? Because you turning down a meal is like.."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Spike cut him off. "I've got a blown transmission I need to finish today, I'd like to get an early start on it."   
  
"Ok," Jet buried his face in the paper again. "Call me when it gets busy down there."  
  
"Yup" Spike called out as he was walking down the stairs. Not that it would ever get busy. It was a miracle that there were able to keep the business open. If Jet's dad hadn't left the building to him, they wouldn't even have a place to live.  
  
Maybe bounty hunting wouldn't be such a bad idea. 


	2. Mustang Sally

Mustang Sally  
  
  
  
Spike unlocked the door to get into the garage, and was greeted by the smell of transmission fluid, oil, and rubber. He flicked on the fluorescent lights and let his eyes adjust to their bright unnatural whiteness.   
  
He turned on his radio and immediately knew Jet had been messing around with it, because it was fixed on a jazz and blues station. Usually Spike prefered 70s rock, and he was about to switch the dial to an oldies station when a song came on that caught his attention. It was a cool blues piece with some songbird's voice accompanied by a piano. He imagined Julia singing it. He could see her wrapped up in some slinky blue dress from the 40s, her blond hair pinned up with a few loose curls hanging down her delicate neck and back.   
  
"Don't care for me, Don't cry,  
Let's say goodbye, adieu..." he could hear her sweet voice singing.  
  
"Spike!" Jet's gruff voice crackled over the intercom.  
  
"Jet!" he yelled back.  
  
"I've been calling you for five minutes!"   
  
"Oh yeah?" he had to stop daydreaming so much.  
  
"Yes, There's a woman broken down on Seventh Street in the west end. I'll come down there and finish your job."  
Jet didn't drive the tow truck unless he had too. His leg got messed up in Nam, and he wasn't able to drive a stick shift all   
that well, so usually he would send Spike to pick up customers.  
  
"A woman huh?" his eyebrows raised and a smile came to his face. "I'm on it, Jet"  
  
"Uh-huh, just tow the car back Spike." Jet rolled his eyes.  
  
  
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Spike was on his way to the truck when he was spotted by a spy hiding out in the bushes.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Spike Person." a small red haired child jumped out in front of him.  
  
"Hello, Miss Edwina Person."   
  
"Call me Ed. Does Spike like the drawings I made for him?"  
  
Spike looked down at the deep blue pavement beneath him. Ed had filled it with chalk smiley faces of all different colors. They had huge almost demonic looking grins and some had beady eyes. Jet bought Ed a huge bucket of sidewalk chalk a few weeks ago after she decided to "decorate" their driveway with her brother's spray paint.   
  
"Yeah..It looks great Ed,"  
  
  
"Hehe..Yay! I will show Jet person too then, where is Ein?" the starwberry topped child demanded.  
  
  
"He's inside, you can play with him later Ed."  
  
  
"Ok bye-bye!" and she ran back home which was the apartment building next door.  
  
  
Spike hopped into his trusty old truck, but it wouldn't start. He spent at least 10 minutes trying to get it running.  
"The Swordfish never gives me these problems" he muttered. "Wait a sec..yeah it does." An imaginary lightbulb flashed over his head. He got out and kicked the old truck and when he tried to start it again, the engine turned right over and the smell of diesel fuel filled the air. "Always works on the Swordfish" he grinned.   
  
The sky had turned grey and a few drops of rain started splatting the truck's windsheild, by the time Spike was halfway to 7th Street, the rain was pouring down. He thought of his customer, at least she would be able to sit in her car during this terrible weather. He wondered what she looked like. Most of the time his female customers were little old ladies, or soccer moms with 10 million kids in the car. He had a feeling this one was going to be around his age and he was hoping this one would look like Julia.   
  
"What's wrong with you Spikey-boy? Obsessing with a girl that's not even real." he sighed.   
  
Traffic started slowing down, and Spike noticed red and blue lights flashing in the direction he was driving. There had been a huge pile up in a major intersection, a real doozy, it even took down a few street signs and a traffic light. A few policemen in bright orange vests were redirecting traffic.   
  
"Great, another detour," he was already a half hour late in picking up his customer, and the rain hadn't even slowed down yet. If he was a smoker, he would have gone through at least a pack already, but he only smoked in his dreams.  
  
20 minutes of detours and he finally made it to seventh street. He saw black late model mustang and somebody in a yellow vinyl raincoat standing against it with their arms crossed.  
  
"Oh no, why is she standing beside it? She should be in the car dammit!" Spike knew he was gonna get it now.  
He pulled up in front of the mustang and got out.   
She had the yellow hood over her head, but he could make out a pale face, and small nose and small red lips. There also seemed to be a few strands of wet purple hair plastered to her face. "Oh well, looks like she isn't my dream girl, but she was still pretty cute." he thought. Especially after she pulled back her hood and showed off her big emerald eyes. If they hadn't been filled with hatred he probably would've fallen in love on the spot. She reminded him of Snow White.  
  
"Where the hell have you been?" she hissed.  
  
"There was a huge accident back there..and a detour.." he started to apologize.  
  
"I've been standing out here in the rain for almost an hour!" she rudely cut him off.  
  
"I'm really sorry, I tried to get here.." he stammered on.  
  
"Well you didn't try hard enough.." she cut him off again.  
  
Spike suddenly didn't care about making an extra $150 that day.  
  
"Ok, well I'm leaving then, see ya!" Spike got back into his truck. "Screw this, it's not worth the aggrivation."  
  
"Wait!" the purple haired girl cried out with anxiety in her voice.  
  
"What?" Spike rolled his window down a crack.  
  
"My keys.."  
  
"What about your keys?"  
  
"I locked them in the car" she said quietly.  
  
"You what?" a smile was starting to form on Spike's lips.  
  
"I said I locked them in the car, ok?" a red blush filled her pale face.  
  
"So you need me to help you then?" this was getting fun for Spike.  
  
"Yes, I'm sorry I was so angry, it's just it's cold out ya know?" she gave him an apologetic smile.  
  
"Ok, get in the truck, I'll see what I can do." Spike got a Slim Jim from the glove compartment and cranked up the heat at full force. "This shouldn't take too long, I've done this many times before."  
  
"Ok," she gave him an innocent appreciative look.   
  
Spike decided she wasn't as bad as she seemed.  
  
Just as he was sliding the Slim Jim between the window and the door, he heard his truck's tires spin out and watched it zoom away. He looked in through the windows of the mustang, and there weren't even any keys inside.  
  
"She tricked me," he said softly watching his old truck's red tail lights dissappear into the rainy afternoon. For reasons he would never fully understand, instead of getting mad and yelling, he started laughing. It took him a half hour of sitting on the curb laughing in the pouring rain before he'd be able to call Jet and tell him what happened. He wouldn't dare laugh when he told Jet, because Jet would be mad enough in the first place.  
  
He called collect.  
  
"Where are you?" Jet's gruff voice demanded.  
  
"Aww..are you worried about me?" Spike asked sarcastically.  
  
"I'm worried about my truck.." but Spike knew the truth.  
  
"She tricked me.." he felt more laughter coming on.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Just come get me Jet, I'll explain on the way home."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
What do you think? It's kind of weird isn't it? I just figured Spike kept saying all throughout the series that his life was like a dream he never woke up from and I figured what if that was true..Yeah, I'm a dork..and Yeah I've got way too much time on my hands..I know.. ^_^` 


	3. Swimming Bird

Swimming Bird  
  
  
Jet hung up the phone and cursed Spike. Now he had to go out in the pouring rain, and most likely he'd have to get his own tow truck towed. He put the "Back in an hour" sign with the silly looking man pointing to his comically oversized watch on the shop door and got into his old pickup. The back of his truck was flooded with water.  
  
"Great, just great." Jet closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Then he climbed into his pool on wheels.  
  
"Damn Spike, he probably messed up my truck again..That kid gets into more trouble just because he doesn't pay attention. His mind is always somewhere else."   
  
Jet heard a noticable amount of splashing coming from behind him.  
"Huh?" he raised his eyebrow and threw a quick glance at his rear view mirror.  
  
A red headed rocket shot up in the back of the truck in a splash of cool rain water and laughter.   
  
"Weeeee! Ed is swimming!" Ed squealed gleefully.  
She was standing up in the water-logged bed of Jet's beat up truck with her arms stretched out like an airplane. She had swimming goggles over her eyes and a big toothy grin on her face.   
  
  
"Shit!" Spike's heart jumped into his throat as he tried to gain control over the swerving truck.  
  
  
"Whoa-hoho-haha!" Ed was loving every second of her portable water ride.  
  
"Sit down, Ed!" Jet barked, and he heard the child plop down with splash behind him. He gained control of the truck and his heart returned to it's proper place in Jet's body.  
  
Ein barked at her with his tail wagging like crazy.  
  
"Does Ein want to go swimming too?" Edwina pulled open the window into the front seat and plucked the portly puppy from his seat next to Jet. This was followed by more splashing, laughter and an occasional "yip!"  
  
"Great," Jet sighed "now the whole apartment is going to smell like wet dog for a month."   
  
He pulled up next to a soaking wet Spike with a smile on his face, his usual poofy green hair looked almost black and it dripped over his eyes.  
  
"What's he so happy about?" Jet wondered as he got out of the truck.  
  
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"What's with the grin, Spike?" the familiar voice brought Spike back into the world of the living. He was thinking about his mysterey girl again.  
  
"Grin?" Spike didn't even realize he was smiling.  
"What's she doing here?" he motioned his head towards Ed.   
  
"She's a stowaway, and she almost made me crash, so where's my.." Jet started to ask Spike a question.  
  
"Stow-away, Stow-a-wayeeeeeeee! Ed sang to herself "Crash-Crash, Boom-Boom! Haha!" she was still splashing around in the truck.  
  
"So how come I don't see my tow truck anywhere, Spike?"  
  
"Our customer borrowed it, but don't worry, she promised she'd bring it right back." He blew a bubble with a piece of gum he found in his pocket.  
"Of course that was over an hour ago."  
His bubble exploded leaving pink gooey carnage all over his nose, mouth and chin.   
  
"So like I said, Spike, what are you grinning about?!" He grabbed Spike by his grease stained color and threw him up against the phone booth. Jet was getting pretty sick that Spike had a smartass answer for everything.  
  
  
"Hey relax Jet! I didn't steal your crappy truck!" He knew Jet would be angry, but he didn't think he would react like this.  
  
  
"Crappy, Wappy, Trucky Wucky.." Ed always sang the same type of song just with different words.  
  
  
"No, you didn't steal it! But you were stupid enough to leave the keys in it with some stranger!"   
Jet released Spike from his grip, crossed his arms and turned his back on him.  
"And it's not crappy!" his voice sounded hurt.   
  
  
"Crappy, Crappy, Crappy, Truck Truck Trrrrrrruck!" Ed sang happily..  
  
  
"Dammit, Edwina!" Jet banged his fist on the old pick-up hard enough that Ed would know it was time to cool it. He hated yelling, especially at her. He was sort of Ed's second father since the other one was always on the road, and he felt bad for the kid.   
"Have you called the police yet?"   
  
"Nope, I had something else planned.." there was a hint of mischief in Spike's voice.  
  
"Planned? What are you talking about Spike?" his eyebrows raised.  
  
"What if instead of calling the cops, we go after the girl?" Spike was trying his best to sound convincing.  
  
"We? As in you and I?" Jet couldn't believe what Spike was suggesting.  
  
"Sure, It'll be fun" Spike grinned, knowing Jet was about to turn him down and make some kind of statement about Spike having his head in the clouds.  
  
Jet Shook his head back in forth.."That kid is such a dreamer.." he said to himself.  
"Sorry Spike, but those of us who are grounded in reality have work to do, now are you going to get in the truck with me or not?"  
  
Well Jet didn't say head in clouds, but he did use the phrase grounded in reality. Spike grinned, he knew Jet Black way too well.   
  
"So you wanted to know why I was grinning, Jet?" Spike held up a thin card covered in plastic between his fingers.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Oh, it's just the drivers license of the girl who stole your truck..She dropped her wallet on the ground..I found it a few minutes after we got off the phone."  
He smiled smugly.  
"I figured we could pay a little visit to her folks."  
  
"That's assuming she still lives at home, Spike." Jet was readjusting his driver's side window.  
  
"It's worth a shot. Come on Jet, do you really want to go back to work, and spend the day waiting for customers that aren't going to come? Just this once, don't play by the books."  
  
He heard Jet mumble something under his breath, and he watched him climb into his truck.  
  
"I'll go with or without you, Jet, I really don't care." Spike was studying the car booster's drivers license. He found himself lost in her glittering green eyes and red lips. It was her damn looks that made him trust her so quickly. They were so sweet, innocent and sexy, but not like Julia. Julia's looks went far beyond sweet, innocent or sexy...  
  
"Well are you getting in or what?" Jet put on his seatbelt, furrowed his thick brows and fixed his eyes ahead of him "If you want to go on a wild goose chase, we might as well get it over with."  
  
Spike got into the truck clutching the little piece of plastic in his hands like an irreplacable key. He wondered just what kind of doors it would open. He leaned his head against the tattered head rest and closed his eyes. Jet was mumbling something to him about losing money for the day, and Ed was singing a new song about a goose.   
  
He felt something heavy and wet plop into his lap. An odd aroma of fritos and mushrooms filled his nostrils. He looked down and Ein the dog was already falling asleep. Usually he would be envious of how the dog could sleep and dream whenever he wanted to, but this time he wasn't. Nope, this time Spike was finally living out his dreams...sort of.. 


	4. The Thrifty Hacker

The Thrifty Hacker  
  
  
The theif's address was only a few blocks away. It was a nice sized, well maintained house with tulips growing along the side of it. The tow truck was no where to be seen. These observations made Jet assume this place was not the girl's house. He opted to stay in the truck and watched Spike knock on the door. A smiling mustached black man answered the door.   
  
Jet wasn't a professional lip-reader, but he was almost positive that the man said "Howdy" to Spike.  
  
Spike held out the card for the man to inspect.  
The man stared at it for a few moments, and shook his head.  
  
"Sorry partner, I've never seen her before" he had a strange accent..  
"Good Luck finding her though!"   
  
"Ok, Thanks for your time." Spike tried not to look or sound too dissapointed.   
  
He walked back to the truck with his hands in his pockets and his head to the ground.   
  
  
"So the license is a fake huh?" Jet didn't have to say "told you so" because the words were all over his smile.  
  
"Yup," Spike slumped down in his seat and slammed the door.   
  
"So then I guess it's time to call the cops." Jet was sure the lanky mechanic had thrown in the towel at this point. He was surprised at what Spike said next.  
  
"Well we can always check the license plate number of the car.."  
  
"That's assuming she didn't steal that car as well.." Jet starting chuckling softy and Spike shot him a deadly look that made Jet clear his throat and play along for a little while longer.  
"How can we do that?" he tried his best to sound serious.  
  
"We can hack into the DMV's website.." Spike answered very matter of factly.  
  
"And just how are we going to do that?" what was that nut up to now?  
  
Spike looked in the back of the truck at Ed.  
  
"Hey Ed, will you hack something for us?"  
  
"Sure, but Edwina is hungry!"  
  
"Ok, we'll feed you once we get what we need."  
  
"Okide-Dokie-Artichokie!" Ed saluted Spike.   
  
"But Spike, how did you know..." Jet was really confused now and somewhat impressed.  
  
"Let's just call it a hunch Jet." a satisfied smile came to his face, and he uncrossed his arms and sat back up in his seat. Ed was always so great at finding bounties in his dreams that he'd figured it'd be worth a shot to ask, and luckily he was right. He assumed that most kids nowadays were hackers simply because society was quickly becoming so computer based.   
  
Everything was falling into place.  
  
  
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"Um, this isn't exactly what I had in mind, Ed."  
Spike and Ed were standing outside of the local Best Buy staring up at the bright yellow sign with big, black blocky letters.  
  
"Does Spike want Ed to hack something for him or not?" she sounded a little bit annoyed.  
  
"Well sure, but I figured we'd use Tomato." Shit, I just called it Tomato! I hope she didn't notice what I..  
  
"Tomato?" Ed started giggling "what tomato?"   
  
"There's no tomato, Ed" Spike tried to hold back the red embarassment creeping up his neck, otherwise he'd look like a tomato.  
  
"But you said.." Ed was started to giggle.  
  
"Let's go, Ed!" and he gently pushed her through the automatic doors.   
  
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They made their was through the blinding, busy store and walked over to the computer section.  
  
Ed looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and quickly slipped a CD into the CD burner of a computer that was hooked up to the internet.  
  
Spike was checking out some cute blond with big blue eyes. He almost went up to her until he heard her speak. She had a high pitched very ditzy sounding voice. Spike was desperate for a woman, but not desperate enough go after a ditz. He'd already had his fair share of ditzes, and this time he wanted something more...Julia.  
  
Ed started yanking at his untucked dark blue uniform shirt.  
  
"So what does Spike want? Ed can get him Photoshop 6, Flash 5, Dreamweaver..."   
She was staring up at him with her swim goggles still on her face. She looked like a tall skinny bug having a very bad hairday. Not like Spike should talk, a day in the rain wasn't too good for his big green mop of hair either.  
  
"Huh?" Spike scratched his head and stared at Ed like she was speaking some other language..  
  
"I said Edwina can get you Photosh.."  
  
"No Ed, I don't want computer programs, I want to find out who the car is registered to, I want you to go to the DMV's website and look up this plate number.."  
  
"Ed cannot do that"   
"Ed can only hack programs"  
  
"You're kidding," Spike felt his heart drop. So much for finding the girl on his own.  
  
"Nope, Nope, Nope, Ed is being one hundered percent totally and completely serious."  
  
"Shit!' Spike exclaimed, almost to the point of shouting. A few people looked over at him, then when about their business. He realized he was overreacting, but he didn't care, it sucked, just when something slighty interesting was about to happen to him, it stopped. He wished he had never gotten that call today, he wished he had never trusted the snow white look-a-like, and most of all, he wished he never woke up today.  
  
"Did Ed do something wrong?" the child looked hurt and confused, she took the goggles off her eyes and pulled them down over her neck. They lay there like and ugly rubber necklace with two odd-shaped dull clear stones.  
  
"No Ed, you didn't do anything wrong, are you still hungry?"  
  
"Yes, Ed is still very hungry!"  
  
"Good, so is Spike, let's go make Jet take us out to eat.."  
  
"Out to eeeatt! Yay!" she skipped out of the store after Spike totally forgetting about her CD in the computer.  
  
  
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Jet was sitting in the car with Ein. He claimed he didn't want to go into the store with Spike and Ed because there was a ballgame on the radio that he really wanted to listen to, but the truth was he wanted as little to do with this whole crazy thing as possible. He didn't understand why he didn't just call the cops earlier, but he decided that it must have been because of Spike's desire.  
  
Jet knew that Spike would've gone without him, and that he would've just walked because Spike was the type of person that just didn't care about things like that, and he was a bright kid too. Jet often thought that Spike would make a great cop or detective, if only his mind wasn't always somewhere else. He imagined his green haired co-worker getting shot at by crooks, bullets piercing through his trenchcoat and fidora, and Spike would be staring into space with his hand stroking his chin and a dazed look on his face, lost in a daydream.   
  
"He's got the dream, but not the drive." when Jet realized what movie he had just quoted, he was glad nobody else had been in the car to hear him but the dog, although Ein did perk his ears up.  
Sometimes Jet thought that dog knew more then he let on, but then Ein would disprove his theory by chasing his own tail with hellfire in his eyes.  
  
Ein jumped up at the window and started barking happily.  
  
Jet looked over to see a happy skipping red head, and a defeated looking green head.   
  
"Did you get it?"  
  
Ed jumped into the truck and scooped up Ein cradling him like a baby.   
A very pissed off Spike got in the truck, slammed the door and glared his eyes out his window.  
That was enough of an answer for Jet.  
  
"Spike said Jet would take Ed out to eat. Ed is very hungry."  
  
"Where do you want to go Ed?" Jet threw a concerned glance at Spike. The kid was taking this thing so seriously, too seriously if you asked Jet.  
  
"Ed wants to go to the diner on the highway!"  
  
Jet headed towards that highway.  
  
  
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Jet's radio was broken so the four passengers sat in silence.  
  
Jet was mulling over a way in his head to bring Spike out of his funk.  
  
Ed was still cradling Ein.   
  
Ein was still a little wet, smelling like mushrooms and fritos, he considered scratching his ear, but he'd save that for later.  
  
Spike was staring out his window into the early night sky. The sun had not fully retreated yet, but the moon was slowly emerging and stars were mushrooming up all over the place. He'd love to take the Swordfish for a ride right tonite, but he doubted he'd be able to sleep well after such a dissapointing day. He'd be thinking alot about that girl with the purple hair. He hated her, but not for stealing the truck. He hated her because she was the promise for something exciting, and now she was gone.  
  
  
"That looks just like Jet and Spike's tow truck!" Ed was pointing about half a block up the highway.  
  
Spike opened his window and squinted into the hazy distance. It was their tow truck alright.  
  
  
The beat up tow truck was along the side of the road with it's hazards on. "Snow White" was still wearing her yellow jacket although the rain stopped a while ago. Spike hadn't noticed how short her skirt was before, but he realized now that her rain coat almost gobbled the whole thing up. It was a wonder nobody had stopped for her yet and it was also a miracle.   
  
"Haha! It stalled, just like it did this morning. Serves her ass right!"   
  
  
Spike and Jet exchanged victorious smirks with each other. As much as he hated to admit it, Jet was really starting to get into this. He pulled off to the side of the highway.   
"So now what?"  
  
"I'm not sure.." Spike really didn't know what to do at first. Then figured he do whatever Spike the cowboy would do, except he didn't own a gun and he didn't know Jeet Kun Do, and this girl seemed like she could handle herself. He got out of the truck and closed the door.  
  
"Spike!" Jet let out a harsh loud whisper. What a lunkhead! He was going to get himself killed!  
  
"I'll be ok Jet." But he wasn't sure that he would be. He took a deep breath and walked towards his purple haired "bounty." 


	5. Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water  
  
  
  
"Yo!" Spike called out to the girl through the darkness.  
  
"Oh, thank you for stopping!" a wave of relief washed over Faye. She had been broken down for a while now, and she was in the middle of nowhere.  
"I was begining to think nobody was going to stop." a greatful smile came to her face.  
  
"Well Miss, it's not safe out here for a pretty little thing like you ya know." Spike wanted to mess with the girl's mind, shake her down a bit.  
  
"Oh, I know..I was just.." suddenly she felt a bit uneasy. Spike cut her off mid-sentence.  
  
  
"..What with this being so far away from anyplace..well.." Spike stopped dead in his tracks because he feared if he got any closer, she might be able to recognize him.   
"A girl could get...hurt." It was getting hard for Spike to hold back the laughter.   
  
  
("A girl could get hurt")  
The words echoed in Faye's head, and terror shot into her belly leaving a huge wound of fear.   
She felt her heart speed up, and was suddenly very aware of the bugs chirping and clicking in the overgrown weeds that tickled her legs.  
  
"So, how can I be of service ma'am?" Spike's voice was close to laughter. He wasn't sure how long he could keep the act up.  
  
That voice..where did Faye know that voice? She squinted her eyes at the shadowy figure that had stopped creeping towards her.  
  
Then she saw his stupid grinning face, it was him! The guy with the poofy green hair! She hauled ass back to the broken down truck, and got inside slamming down the door locks, and rolling up the windows, then she hid underneath the seat.  
  
  
"Too easy," a small smile came to Spike's face, and he walked up next to the driver's side, and tapped on the window.  
  
"Get away!" a muffled voice screamed from the inside of the interior.  
  
"Look, I'm not going to hurt you, just open the door." Spike guessed he took the joke a little too far. He wanted to scare the girl a little, not terrify her to death.  
  
"I don't believe you." A harsh voice spat back.  
  
"Look please, just trust me.." Spike pleaded. "I really just want my tow truck back."  
  
"Then why didn't you just call the cops?"  
  
Spike felt embarrassed again.  
  
"Well, because..I wanted..I wanted to try and find you myself."  
Spike couldn't believe he just told her that, and he couldn't believe how pathetic it sounded coming out of his mouth.  
  
"Huh? What do you think your some kind of cowboy or something?" the woman's voice calmed down, it sounded amused.  
  
"I guess.." he turned his back on the window, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He felt like a real ass.  
  
"So are you giving me my truck back or do I have to break the window?" Spike tried to sound tough, and he heard the mechanized whir of the truck's window going down. He turned around and was greeted by a small pistol pointed right between his eyes.  
  
"You're too trusting, cowboy." a smirk came to the vixen's blood red lips.  
  
  
  
------------------------------------  
  
  
  
"Put em up high." she motioned with her gun for Spike to raise his arms.  
  
A huge grin came to his face and he slowly lifted up his arms.  
  
"What's with the smile..." she squinted at his name patch. "Spike?"  
  
"What kind of name is Spike for a guy like you?" she asked in a voice that made Spike want to smack her, not that he was the type to hit a lady, but this one was really pushing it.  
  
"I dunno, what kind of name is Faye for a wench like you?" He rested his hands on the door.  
  
"I said put your hands up!" she was beyond angry at this point.   
  
"Can I at least get a new piece of gum first? This one has lost it's flavor." he tried his best to look innocent.  
  
"No."   
  
"Oh c'mon, if you're gonna kill me, at least give a dying man his wish.."  
  
"Fine," her face was twisted in an intimidating glare "but I'll get it for you."   
She opened the door and slowly climbed down onto the soft, squishy earth. The whole time she kept the gun pointed square at Spike's head.  
"What pocket is it in?" she snarled quietly.  
  
"The left one." He held his breath as she brushed her hand down his side.  
  
She cautiuosly reached into Spike's left pocket only to find there was nothing there but an empty gum wrapper.  
"You liar!"   
"Huh?" she let out a surprised yelp.  
Before she knew what happened, Spike had grabbed her gun in one hand, and her wrist in another.  
  
"You're too trusting, my dear." Spike's reddish brown eyes sparkled and he had a lopsided grin on his face.   
  
Chalk one up for Spike Spiegel, auto mechanic.   
  
Just as he was about to bring his bounty in, he felt a thwack on the back of his head, and fell to the chilled muddy ground. Then everything went pitch black. 


	6. Nothing But Trouble

Nothing But Trouble  
  
  
  
"She left again Spike.." Jet was leaning against the door frame squinting at his partner. He wondered why Spike always insisted upon practicing his martial arts in the dark.  
  
"Good.." Spike stopped for a second to wipe his brow and went back to pummeling the heavy punching bag.  
"She really pissed me off with that last bounty..." he started punching the bag even harder.  
"I almost killed her right there on the spot, Jet." he got angry again just thinking about it.  
  
  
Chester Damone was a crazed serial killer that had a 500 millon woolong bounty on his head, and Spike had been so close to catching him that he could taste his lobster dinner. He didn't want Faye's help, he didn't need Faye's help and he had told her this about a hundred times. Finally she sulked away, defeated and took off in the Redtail. He was hoping she wouldn't come back. But she did come back. Not back to the BeBop, but she had tracked the Swordfish and followed it to Earth. In fact, she followed him all the way to the place where Chester was last spotted.   
  
He should have known he was being followed, he should have sensed it, but the size of the bounty made him a bit jumpy and anxious just to get it over with. He should've been careful but he wasn't, and because of that, when Chester Demone was in plain view Faye's goddamned allergies gave both of them away.  
  
"Achoo" a soft femimine sneeze came about ten feet behind him.  
  
Simultaneously Spike and Chester looked back at the purple haired scantilly clad woman wiping her nose.  
  
Chester stared at her and Spike wide eyed for a few seconds, and then fear shot through his tall thin body. His mouth dried up and he ran towards his speeder. Spike let out a few shots but Chester was too quick for him, and the Swordfish was parked too far away for a sky chase. He watched as the junky old speeder took off into the stone grey Earth sky.  
  
  
Bye-Bye 500 million woolongs...  
  
  
"Goddamit, Faye!" He swung around cursing the foolish woman. There was fire in his mismatched eyes. She really screwed things up this time.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry!" She shot back although it sounded more snotty then apologetic.  
"I just wanted to back you up.. I mean..since you and Jet took me in I wanted to help out.."  
  
  
"Ok first off, we didn't take you in, you let yourself in."   
  
He almost laughed that this woman thought Spike and Jet had taken her in like some sort of stray cat. Faye wasn't a cute little kitten. She was more like a bitchy old cat that scratched and hissed at you if you tried to make it leave, so they just dealt with her being around.   
  
"And secondly, how many times did I tell you I didn't need your help, Jet and I have been doing this for years and we get along just fine without your help, so when I tell you to stay away, stay the fuck away!"   
  
With that he turned and started walking into town. He was gonna get himself liquored up something awful tonite.   
  
Besides what had just happened, Julia had been haunting his mind alot lately. He hadn't really been around any other woman since Julia, and now he was stuck with one like Faye. Not that he had any feelings for Faye, although sometimes he would catch her looking at him in a weird way. She was very pretty, he couldn't deny that, but her attitude was just terrible. She was such a smartass, so reckless and so stubborn, and to top that off she was as selfish as they came.  
  
Faye was nothing but trouble. He suspected it from the first time he laid eyes on her, and after she cheated him the whole game, he knew his assumptions where correct. As Spike downed his fifth glass of whiskey he realized Faye reminded her alot of himself, and that was one reason why nothing would ever happen with them. The main reason was Julia, he couldn't really imagine himself with anyone else but her.  
  
God, how he missed her..words could barely explain it. It was as if Julia had put some sort of spell on Spike. A spell broken by her kiss alone, but she was hidden away in a castle of unknown origion. He knew where the dragon guarding her was though. He was on Mars. Spike knew he would have to slay the dragon before he and Julia could be together safely again, but first he had to find her.  
  
A thin woman with long blond hair walked into the seedy bar's door and sat on the stool next to Spike. His vision was blurred..could it be her? It would be too perfect.   
  
"Julia..?" he slurred at the blond next to him.  
  
"Umm, no, sorry dude."  
  
Spike was horrified to hear a deep voice answer and when he squinted his eyes, he realized the blond next to him wasn't a woman at all. Just a guy with really long hair. It became apparent to him that at that very moment that he had enough to drink for one night. He stumbled out of the bar bumping into fellow patrons, and soon after he passed out onto the hard concrete sidewalk.  
  
  
  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
  
  
"Spike-Spike?" he could hear a child's voice calling him. It sounded so far away.  
  
He realized he was not sleeping on a sidewalk, but rather in his bed. He was dreaming again. That last thing he remembered was taking the gun away from Faye and then a bang on the back of his head.   
  
Something was on his face, something that made it feel tight. He put his hand to it and it felt like starch. He inspected his fingers and saw it was plain old dirt. The bang must have made him fall to the ground. The back of his head was aching.  
  
"What happened, Ed?"  
  
"Edwina is sooo sorry," she sounded very worried.  
  
"Sorry for what?" he slitted his eyes in the golden morning sun and sat up in his bed.  
  
"Weeeeeelllll...when Spike looked in trouble, Ed snuck out of the truck to help and she tried to bang the Faye girl over the head with a rock, but instead she banged Spike person on the head by accident." she spit it out in one quick sentence. Then hid behind a chair as if to protect herself.  
  
  
"Oh," he rubbed the back of his aching skull, staring blankly ahead of him. He wasn't sure how he should feel.  
"Well what happened to Jet and the Faye gir?"  
  
"Jet took the Faye girl to the police station, but that was late last night." her voice was seasoned with worry.  
"He told me to watch you for a little bit and he would be back...but Jet person never came back." worry turned to sadness.  
  
"Shit!" he threw his covers off and swung his lanky legs to the floor. He went into the kitchen and saw a small red light blinking on the answering machine.   
  
  
  
  
Red  
  
  
  
  
Black  
  
  
  
  
Red  
  
  
  
  
Black  
  
  
  
  
Red  
  
  
  
  
Black  
  
  
  
  
He knew what the message was..he knew who it was and what they were going to say.  
  
  
  
  
Red  
  
  
  
  
Black  
  
  
He swallowed and the pressed the circular plastic bottom to retrieve the messages. Then he heard a familiar voice filter through the speakers of the small black answering machiene and his shoulders involuntarily cringed. 


	7. Black Widow

Black Widow  
  
  
  
  
"Hi cowboy.." a sultry voice slithered through the small black speakers.  
"I've got your partner here, he had a little... car trouble. Call me back at this number when you get this.."  
  
Spike ran around the kitchen looking for a pen to take down the number with.   
  
"All I need is a goddam pen!" He could never find a pen when he needed one. He started turning the kitchen upside down and Ed's gold eyes watched in amazement.   
  
"Umm..Spike person?"  
  
  
"Not now, Ed!"   
  
  
"But this is important." she pouted.  
  
  
"I said, NOT NOW!" Spike was getting annoyed.  
  
  
Ein was lounged in front of the stairs dreaming about a bacon and liver sandwhich. The tall goofy man running noisily around the apartment woke him up. He yawned, stood up, stretched and then waddled over to his water dish.   
  
Spike, not thinking there was a furry landmine in his way ran around the kitchen devil may care and stepped on the poor little doggy causing him emminate a noise much like one of his squeak toys. Spike lost his balance and smacked his head against the counter.  
  
"Oww!"   
  
Ein ran into Spike's bed room to hide.  
  
Ed's hands flew to her mouth to keep in the laughter.  
  
Spike stared over at Ed and knew she was about to crack up, not that he could blame her. He had been making a fool of himself, and not just by hitting his head, this whole time he had been making a fool of himself.   
  
  
Thinking he could actually bring in this woman himself..  
  
  
Why couldn't he get it through his head he was not Spike Spiegel, bounty hunter?  
  
  
Why couldn't he let go of that dream?   
  
  
He rubbed his new bruise on the front of his head and sighed.   
  
Jet was right about everything as usual, and now something terrible may have happened to him. Jet had wanted to call the cops in the first place, but Spike convinced him not too. If anything terrible happened to Jet, Spike would never forgive himself.  
  
  
"So what did you want Ed?"  
  
  
"Edwina has a pen for you!" she held up a ballpoint pen with a huge smile on her face.  
  
  
"Well why didn't you tell me that sooner?!"  
  
  
"Because Spike person didn't ask." she starting giggling at him.  
  
  
Spike was just about to reply when he heard the bells jingle on the door downstairs.  
  
"Spike!" he heard a panic striken gruffy voice call out from downstairs.  
  
Spike ran over to the stairway and stopped short.   
  
Jet was standing at the bottom of the stairs and he was holding Faye's limp body in his arms.  
  
  
"What the hell happened?"  
  
  
"I knocked her out."  
  
  
"You what?"  
  
  
"Just shut up and help me for a second!" Jet stared at Ed and noticed how intently she was watching everything. It made him nervous that she might accidently say something about this to one of her brothers.  
"Go home, Ed, and don't say anything to anybody about this."   
  
  
"Rodger-Dodger" She saluted Jet and ran down the stairs.  
  
  
Jet walked up the narrow stairway sideways holding the purple haired woman tightly. Then he put her down on the couch in the living room.   
  
  
"So tell me what happened, Jet."  
  
  
"Well after Ed knocked you out, we brought you here. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, Faye had no choice but to come with us, so I brought her up here with us. I had taken her gun from her, so I didn't think we were in danger. I asked Ed to stay and watch over you while I took Faye to the police station. Well It turned out she had a second gun, and as soon as we got in the truck she pulled it on me and instructed me to drive. After about an hour of driving we pulled over and she made a phone call. I saw that as my opportunity to do something. When she got back into the car, I tried to wrestle the gun away from her..but then she pointed it straight at my head..so with my free hand I punched her..and she hasn't been awake since.."  
  
Spike stared at Jet taking it all in.   
  
"I've never hit a woman in my life Spike..but there was nothing I could do..she.."  
He ran his hand nervously over his balding head.   
"She had the gun pointed right at me..I thought she was going to shoot."  
  
  
"Hey it's allright Jet, but why did you bring her here?"  
  
  
"Well I didn't..I mean I thought if I brought an unconcious woman to the cops..I.." his eyes darted nervously at the theif on the couch. There was a small bruise developing on her left cheek.  
  
  
"You thought they might think you beat her?" Spike finished the sentence for Jet.  
  
"Yeah.."   
"I didn't mean to hurt her, Spike."  
  
"Will you stop explaining yourself, Jet. I know you would never intentionally hurt a woman. The only question is now what do we do with her?"  
  
"Ed knows what to do!"  
  
Spike and Jet glanced back at the child. She snuck back into the apartment after Jet came upstairs and had been eavesdropping the whole time. She was holding up some brightly colored jump ropes and had a big grin on her face.  
  
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
  
"I can't believe we let some 13 year old kid talk us into this." Spike mumbled as he tied the last knot.  
  
  
"Well it's the only way we can ask her questions without her running away..she's like a damn zoo animal if she runs behind a bush, we'll never see her again.."  
  
  
"But why does she hafta stay in my room?" Spike whined.  
  
  
"Because your room is the only one with a lock on the outside of the door, and I'll bet you anything it'll only take this girl a few minutes to break out of these ropes."  
  
  
"Fine, but she's sleeping on the floor."   
Spike picked Faye up from the couch and carried her into his bedroom.  
  
  
"Sweet Dreams, kid" Jet gave Spike a sarcastic smirk.  
  
  
"I won't be sleeping Jet, I'll be too paranoid about this one, waking up and slashing my throat in the middle of the night."  
Spike stepped into his room and heard Jet lock the door behind him.  
  
He carefully bent down and put Faye on the floor. Then he proceeded to get ready for bed. He took his shirt off and put a pair of grey sweatpants on. Then he fell onto his bed.  
  
He laid there for a while staring at the ceiling. There was a small black spider walking across it. Spike shuddered. He hated spiders. He didn't know too much about spiders really but he thought it would be fitting if it was a black widow. He leaned over on his side and propped his head on his arm to stare down at Sleeping Beauty. Spike realized she was even prettier when she slept, of course alot of that had to do with the fact that her mouth was shut.  
  
Spike decided if Faye was a spider, she'd definetely be a black widow. She had a way of seducing you with those brilliant emerald eyes and then biting your head off when you weren't looking.  
  
Although Spike vowed he wouldn't be able to sleep with that woman in the room, eventually he teetered off into dreamland where his shiny red starship and damsel in distress were waiting. As usual, just when his dream was getting to the good part, he was woken up by some annoying force of nature.   
  
This one happened to be named Hurricane Faye.  
  
"Hey! What the hell?!?" Spike could hear her yelping and struggling around frantically on the floor.   
  
He grunted and looked over at his clock.  
  
The bright red letters 3:32 a.m.  
  
Great...  
  
Couldn't she have waited at least 4 more hours to wake up?   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Sorry it took so long for an update, I've had a mild case of writer's block with this story. I've also discovered it's never a good idea to work on more then one fic at a time, it gets confusing ^_^ Thanks again to the reviewers, you have no idea how much your comments mean to me :) 


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